Tang Jie tossed and turned in bed, racking his brains to think about a storyline for a "micro movie" his team was about to shoot. The script, dialogues and scenes are always midnight topics of Tang and his roommates.
The 22-year-old student of Chongqing Technology and Business University has finished five "micro films" along with nine schoolmates over the past two years, simply relying on a digital camera and a voice recorder.
Among them, the 10-minute "Born in 1990s" , which highlights stories of love, friendship, and career frustration that young people are likely to face upon graduation, has received thousands of views after it went online in April.
"We are not sophisticated and the movie is imperfect," said Tang, the director. "We hope to show that we are the generation that share social responsibilities."
"Micro movies exhibit the power and creativity of grass-roots filmmakers. Everyone has the say in the sector," said Joanne Cheng, a Chinese-American director and professor.
"The era when the filmmaking was monopolized by a small group of people is over," said Chen Shan, professor with Beijing Film Academy. Technological evolution and elimination of film producing threshold allows the public to speak out more freely and they are no longer the passive receivers, he stressed.
Tang's team spent less than a month on producing a micro movie, including script writing, shooting and post-producing.
"We enjoy the process despite setbacks. It is great that our efforts are noticed by viewers," said Tang.
The Internet-based films, shot within a short period of time and last no longer than 30 minutes, are completed on a small budget. They are distributed to video-sharing websites and spread among users of smart phones and tablet computers, which can generate real-time feedback online.
Micro film evolved from home-made humor shorts on video-sharing websites like Youku. It caught the public's attention with the release of Old Boys, among others, in early 2010.
The genre has gained ground over the past two years due to being perfectly suited to new media platforms and smart devices. They are also easily shared across social networks and booming microblogs, which are considered the symbol of a prosperous "micro era" in China.
Statistics from China Internet Network Information Center showed that the number of Internet users has hit 550 million nationwide as of September this year, meaning about 41.1 percent of the population access the Internet. In addition, 363 million people view films online and nearly 50 million Chinese watch videos via cell phones. About 280 million Chinese have microblog accounts.
Industry estimates have put the number of micro films produced in China last year at more than 2,000, compared to around 500 mainstream movies.
"The new medium satisfies modern people's habit of instant reading and fills their fragmented time," said Zhao Yurun, Chief Executive Officer of Shine Show Interactive Media Co. Ltd.
People can easily download or stream micro movies over the Internet. Micro films are more compelling on small screens than traditional movies when people are on the move, he noted.
Micro filmmakers involve people with no film or storytelling experience at all, and young or unknown professionals who are funded by brand-advertisers, according to Zhao. He said the latter are becoming the mainstream members.
Compared with traditional films that rely heavily on box office, micro movies are broadcast online, free to watch. Brand advertisers are the sole source of investment at the moment, as it's impossible for individuals to keep investing in filmmaking from their own pocket.
Micro movies establish a platform for ordinary people to realize their movie dreams. They also give businesses a new channel to advertise their products.
Rather than simply throwing out logos and slogans, many video clips have a nice storyline, elegant audio-visual languages and a skillful presentation of the brand concept, said Zheng Xiaojun, teaching assistant with the College of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University.
They provide artistic entertainment while bringing about the product and build up the image of the business in a subtle way that would not annoy the audience -- this is a much more advanced method of advertising and marketing, according to Zheng.
In addition, the ideal cost-effectiveness is appealing to advertisers. A music-themed micro movie made by Shine Show received 200,000 yuan (31,696 U.S. dollars) from a brand client. It has been viewed by more than 50 million times online. However, it should cost some 10 million yuan in advertising in TV programs or cinemas to reach the same volume of audience, said Zhao.
What bothers film insiders most is the existence of a large amount of low-quality micro movies -- some were poorly shot, some show unhealthy content, others were embedded with excessive advertisements.
The State Administration of Radio Film and Television has tightened scrutiny since July over the content of micro movies as it called on Internet video service providers to screen unhealthy issues.
In addition to the content concerns, moviemakers are trying hard to keep high-level artistic experience after weaving ads into their work.
Zhao said his company has made remarkable achievements in seeking balance between artistic pursuit and commercial benefits.
A series of ads.-built-in micro movies featuring the themes of family ties, abandoned pet animals, crackdown upon drug-trafficking, smoking-control, and handicapped children protection, have gained increasing popularity due to unique story ideas and advanced filming techniques.
"Micro films should have a solid and thought-provoking plot. They share the responsibility of sending positive information about social value to the public," said Wang Qian, Chairwoman of Beijing Herun Detang Media and Advertising Co., Ltd.
Moviemakers should know about people's concerns and work out films to reflect common aspirations. This could be the key for gaining popularity, she stressed.
Zhao noted that copyright trading may become another source of funding in the future, which is expected to relieve directors from commercial restrictions, stimulate creative ideas and promote productions with artistic tastes.
Micro movies are combining traditional filmmaking techniques with modern cultural trends to cater to public value evolution, which is a new medium amid China's century-old film industry development, said Cheng.
They add another dimension to the industry that last year saw box office receipts total more than 2 billion U.S. dollars for the first time, making it the world's second largest behind North America.
"Chinese films always follow social and economic developments within and outside the country," said Zhou Xing, professor with the School of Art and Communication under Beijing Normal University.
Early Chinese films were profit-driven products with the techniques and artistic skills lagging behind the rest of the world. The intrusion of Japanese and the invention of sound motion pictures in 1930s pushed forward the all-round growth of the film industry in the country.
However, many films had been made to serve the need of politics after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The controversial model operas -- planned and engineered during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) by Jiang Qing, the wife of late Chairman Mao Zedong, were the dominating genres. After the disastrous decade, unfettered Chinese filmmakers began to learn the advanced experiences from all over the world and managed to find a Chinese way to make films with socialist characteristics.
"Chinese films began to demonstrate diversified ideas and styles in the late 20th century," said Zhou.
In the 21st century, the industry has witnessed substantial transformation from a monopolized business to a sector that pays attention to public opinions and market response, according to him.
A remarkable event occurred in 2003, when China abolished the rules that only 16 designated organizations could produce films. Commercial films began to enter the world market and caught intensive attention.
How to perfectly interweave national ideology with artistic criteria and public acceptance has been a serious concern of filmmakers and theoretical researchers, said Ding Yaping, director with the Institute of Film and Teleplay of Chinese Academy of Arts.
"A good movie should address social problems and expose intense contradictions," said Tang.
"People chose different film genres in various eras, but life is always the source for ideas," said Ding.
Avoid to preach in a mechanical way and eliminate empty and boring expression, and try to discover respectable deeds from ordinary life will help to make movies more popular among the audience, he advised.
Micro movies should never sacrifice quality for commercial profits. Priority should be given to the establishment of a set of quality rules for such a new sub-sector, said Wang Qian.